So Long, Marianne was produced with support from the Norwegian Film Institute, Creative Europe Media, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, and Rogers Cable Network Fund.
Cineflix Rights announced the sale of Spanish rights to the highly anticipated Leonard Cohen drama, So Long, Marianne, to Movistar Plus+. As part of a series of international sales for the title that will premiere this fall in Canada, Norway, and Germany.
Australian network SBS has acquired the rights to the 8-episode drama. They join original co-production partners NRK (Norway) and Crave (Canada) from Bell Media, ITVX for the UK, ARD’s Fabfiction (NDR, SWR, WDR, Germany), Cosmote TV and Star Channel for Greece, and Movies Best HD for Cyprus, VRT Belgium, SVT (Sweden), DR (Denmark) YLE (Finland), and RUV (Iceland).
So Long, Marianne tells the legendary love story between Canadian singer and poet Leonard Cohen and an extraordinary Norwegian woman, Marianne Ihlen, who inspired the title song.
It is an intimate story of two lonely people who fall in love during a period in their lives when they are trying to figure out who they are and their place in the world, while one of them becomes one of the most famous singers of all time.
Their story crosses the globe, traveling from Norway to Greece, New York, and Montreal, with most of the series shot on the picturesque Greek island of Hydra, where they lived during the 1960s.
There they joined legendary Australian novelists Charmian Clift and her husband George Johnston, matriarch and patriarch of a bohemian group of writers, artists, poets, and outcasts exploring a new world of free love, drugs, and artistic freedom. But also experiencing the rivalries and jealousies that accompanied their intense and intertwined lives.
James Durie, head of scripted for Cineflix Rights, said, “So Long, Marianne is one of the most iconic love stories of the last century, set in one of the most beautiful places in the world, so it’s no wonder it’s been a hit with buyers around the world. We are delighted to close these latest deals with SBS and Movistar and look forward to the reactions of viewers in Spain and Australia to this gripping, life-affirming drama.”
Sabrina Ayala, Sales Consultant for Iberia, Italy, French-speaking Europe, and French Canada, handled the sale to Movistar Plus+, and Chris Bluett, senior vice president of sales for Asia-Pacific and Benelux, closed the sale to SBS.